For years, 33 year old Bilal Ahmad Lone spun a web of deception, targeting those who dedicate their lives to the nation’s security-para-military officers stationed in the sensitive regions of Jammu & Kashmir.

Armed with false promises of easy bank loans, Lone convinced these men to trust him, only to betray them with forged documents and fake deals. However, his endeavor came to an end when Delhi Police’s Crime Branch, in a carefully orchestrated operation, tracked him down in the bustling streets of Jama Masjid on Saturday.

The police recovered seven Debit Cards of ICICI Bank issued in name of Central Reserves Police Force (CRPF) Personals from his possession, along with a Lenovo laptop used to create fake documents, Realme phone used for communication, forged stamps, including those purported to be from the J&K Bank and other official agencies and fake documents and cheque books belonging to different banks.

A ‘Detention Order’ was also issued against him by the District Magistrate of Anantnag in Jammu & Kashmir in an order dated December 13 and the same has also been approved by Government of Jammu & Kashmir (Home Department), Civil Secretariat, Jammu/Srinagar on December 17. Lone, hailing from Kupwara, Jammu & Kashmir, through his schemes defrauded many officers, exploiting them to obtain loans in their names before disappearing with the money.

He presented himself as a loan facilitator and preyed on para-military personnel who either were looking to buy vehicles or secure personal loans. His fraudulent activities spanned several years, with 14 cases of cheating registered against him in various police stations across Jammu & Kashmir.

The Crime Branch received intelligence from the Anantnag police in Jammu & Kashmir about Lone’s possible whereabouts in Delhi. “On the basis of technical surveillance and two days hard ground work by the team, the location of above criminal was found to be in the area of Jama Masjid, Delhi.  Accordingly, on December 21, the above team laid a trap at and around Jama Masjid Area and launched an operation to trace him out,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Vikram Singh said.

After an intensive manhunt, the team finally succeeded to locate him and apprehended near Jama Masjid. “Initially, he resisted and tried to create a scene but he was explained about the operation and detention order issued against him by the District Magistrate, Anantnag, Jammu & Kashmir.

Then, he admitted that he was already aware about the proceedings being initiated by the J&K authority and therefore, he was absconding and hiding himself knowingly,” the DCP added.

Accordingly, he above accused was arrested under the provision of Section 35(1)(b)(ii)(j) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023. Bilal Ahmad Lone is no ordinary conman.

The police said that Bilal is no ordinary conman and has cheated a large number of people in Jammu & Kashmir by inducing them on pretext of getting them loan for purchasing of vehicles. “He used to target the para-military personals posted in Jammu and nearby area. Most of the victims in the cases registered against him, are para-military officials posted in J&K. Either he used to obtain loan on the name of para-military officers or used to sell the vehicles to them which were taken by him on loan from bank by preparing forged No Objection Certificate (NOC) purported to be issued by the Bank,” a senior police officer said.

“Information of his arrest has been given to the concerned police station of Anantnag district, J&K. and teams of J&K Police are on the way to take the custody of accused person,” the DCP said.